BERLIN, June 5: A former German economics minister and deputy chancellor, Juergen Moellemann, jumped from a plane to his death on Thursday, 30 minutes after federal deputies in Berlin had suspended his parliamentary immunity from prosecution, police said.

Germany’s loudest advocate of the Arab cause, Moellemann, had resigned in March from the Free Democrat Party, which was outraged when he issued an anti-Israel leaflet during last year’s election.

Investigators wanted to know if the leaflet was financed by an anti-Israeli outsider, meaning the disgraced politician may have breached political donations laws, or out of Moellemann’s own pocket.

Tax inspectors entered the Moellemann home with a search warrant just after midday, minutes after the federal parliament voted to lift his immunity.—dpa